The Wall Street Journal - 20.09.2019

A11A| Friday, September 20, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

BYBENCHAPMAN

Raccoons, wolverines and the Eurasian lynx are among the critters on the state’s

radar as it seeks to create new licensing requirements for zoos and wildlife parks.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: RONALD WITTEK/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK; TAMAS SOKI/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK; JULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A New York Police Depart-

ment officer who worked as a

bodyguard for the wife of

Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El

Chapo” Guzmán was arrested

in Queens for allegedly trans-

porting cocaine, following an

elaborate sting operation by

the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bu-

reau, prosecutors said.

Ishmael Bailey, 36 years

old, was arraigned Wednesday

night in state criminal court

on five charges, including

criminal sale and possession

of a controlled substance and

receiving bribes, according to

the Queens district attorney’s

office. He is accused of agree-

ing to transport duffel bags

filled with the illegal drug for

undercover officers posing as

dealers, prosecutors said.

A judge ordered his bail set

at $25,000 cash or a $50,

bond. If convicted, he faces up

to 15 years in prison. Mr. Bailey,

who has been an NYPD officer

for 12 years, pleaded not guilty

at the arraignment, according

to his attorney, Jeffrey Cohen.

“It’s still early on,” Mr. Co-

hen said in an interview.

“There is a lot of investigation

that needs to be conducted.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Bailey

served as a bodyguard for Mr.

Guzmán’s wife, former beauty

queen Emma Coronel Aispuro,

during Mr. Guzmán’s criminal

trial in Brooklyn. That trial

ended in February with Mr.

Guzman’s conviction on 10

counts connected to his nar-

cotics empire.

Photos show a man identi-

fied as Mr. Bailey escorting

Ms. Coronel to Mr. Guzman’s

trial at a federal court in

Brooklyn. His work for Mr.

Guzman’s family appeared to

be unconnected to the crimes

for which he is now charged,

police officials said.

Prosecutors allege that Mr.

Bailey met with an undercover

officer in August and agreed

to provide security for the

transport of packages of co-

caine at a rate of $1,500 per

kilogram. Mr. Bailey trans-

ported a bag filled with the

drug in his car on Sept. 4 and

was paid $2,500 for the job by

the undercover officer, accord-

ing to prosecutors.

Mr. Bailey also met with the

undercover officer on Sept. 12

and purchased 2 kilograms of

cocaine for $10,000, once

again transporting packages of

the drug from one location to

another, prosecutors said.

GREATER NEW YORK

In a statement, Queens act-

ing District Attorney John M.

Ryan characterized Mr. Bai-

ley’s alleged actions as a be-

trayal of his law-enforcement

career.

“Today, sadly, he is accused

of taking part in an illicit drug

operation,” Mr. Ryan said of

Mr. Bailey. “This kind of mal-

feasance will not be toler-

ated.”

An NYPD spokesman said

Mr. Bailey was already the

subject of a separate investi-

gation in July when the probe

leading to his current charges

began. The spokesman said

Mr. Bailey was suspended

from his job without pay fol-

lowing his arrest on Wednes-

day.

Sorrel Turner, of Staten Is-

land, who identified herself as

Mr. Bailey’s wife and mother

of two of his children, said in

an interview Thursday that

her husband isn’t guilty. She

declined to comment on her

husband’s work as a body-

guard for Mr. Guzmán’s wife.

Ms. Turner, who works as a

nurse, said her family was at-

tempting to raise the money

needed for his release from

the Bronx jail where he was

being held.

“He is a good man and a

great father and I just want

him home,” she said.

Officer Arrested on Drug Charges

Sting led to charges

against NYPD cop who

moonlighted as guard

for wife of ‘El Chapo’

Ishmael Bailey, right, guarded Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, in July.

JOHANNES EISELE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGE

A New York City judge or-

dered a landlord to pay a

$5,000 fine to the city and

$12,000 in damages to a tenant

for threatening to call Immi-

gration and Customs Enforce-

ment officers on the tenant.

New York’s Commission on

Human Rights brought the com-

plaint against the Queens land-

lord to an administrative judge.

The commission alleged that

the landlord texted and emailed

the tenant that she would call

ICE if she didn’t pay her rent.

Threatening to call immigra-

tion enforcement is classified

as discrimination under New

York City’s human-rights law,

according to the commission.

Lawyers for the commission

said they believe it is the first

case in the country where an

individual was fined for

threatening to call immigra-

tion authorities.

City lawyers accused the

landlord, 44-year-old Dianna

Lysius, of sending multiple

threatening text messages to

her tenant, Holly Ondaan, 48,

during a trial held over two

days in May and June.

Ms. Lysius said in an inter-

view she didn’t send the texts

and emails to Ms. Ondaan. She

said she plans to appeal the

judge’s ruling.

Ms. Ondaan said she is an

immigrant from Guyana with

European Union citizenship

and wasn’t authorized to be in

the U.S. at the time of the

threats. She got her green

card in July 2018, according to

the ruling and Ms. Ondaan.

The case was one of 160 in-

quiries made to the commis-

sion in 2018 related to housing

discrimination based on immi-

gration status, a spike com-

pared with prior years, a com-

mission spokeswoman said.

The Sept. 12 ruling was made

by an administrative law judge

for the Office of Administrative

Trials and Hearings, which is

responsible for handling cases

brought by city agencies.

Ms. Ondaan had lived in Ms.

Lysius’s Jamaica, Queens,

property since 2011. However,

Ms. Ondaan stopped paying

rent in October 2017, accord-

ing to the judge’s ruling. Ms.

Lysius fell behind in mortgage

payments and eventually sold

the property in foreclosure,

according to the ruling.

Judge John B. Spooner said

her “dire financial circum-

stances likely played a signifi-

cant part in motivating her

hostile messages.”

In early January 2018, Ms.

Lysius began eviction proceed-

ings against Ms. Ondaan. On

Jan. 11, Ms. Lysius wrote in a

text message that she would

call ICE on Ms. Ondaan if she

didn’t pay rent that day.

After Ms. Ondaan reached

out to the city’s Commission

on Human Rights, the agency

sent a letter on Jan. 17 to Ms.

Lysius ordering her to cease

threatening to report tenants

to immigration authorities, ac-

cording to the ruling. The next

day, Ms. Lysius sent an email

to Ms. Ondaan threatening to

call ICE, the ruling said.

Ms. Ondaan eventually

moved out in October 2018, ow-

ing $14,400 in rent, according

to the ruling. A housing-court

decision in September 2018

said Ms. Ondaan would have to

pay $6,895 of the back rent.

BYTYLERBLINT-WELSH

Queens

Landlord

Fined for

ICE Threat

To Tenant

byists from donating money to

a public servant they are ac-

tively lobbying.

Each of the three compa-

nies reached a settlement be-

fore a scheduled hearing on

the investigation. The commis-

sion has previously reached

settlements tied to the probe.

Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat,

declined to comment on the

investigation on Thursday, but

has previously said that he

and his campaign acted le-

gally. A spokeswoman for the

mayor, Freddi Goldstein, said

the organization had been in-

vestigated and the commission

“has never found that the

mayor violated the law.”

The Campaign for One New

York was launched in 2013 by

three former de Blasio cam-

paign officials to raise money

for the mayor’s legislative ob-

jectives, including free prekin-

dergarten in the city.

Federal prosecutors and the

Manhattan district attorney’s

office both investigated the

now-closed nonprofit but de-

clined to press charges against

the mayor or any campaign of-

ficials. The city’s Department

of Investigation also investi-

gated the nonprofit. It closed

its probe in October 2018.

The commission said it is

still investigating the nonprofit.

In the latest settlements,

investigators found thousands

of dollars were donated to the

nonprofit as the companies

lobbied the city, which violates

gift restrictions in the state

lobbying law and related rules.

Toll Brothers and its sub-

sidiary Toll Brooklyn LP do-

nated $25,000 to the nonprofit

in April 2015 after Mr. de Bla-

sio personally asked an execu-

tive to contribute a month

earlier, the investigation

found. They were lobbying the

city at the same time.

A spokeswoman for Toll

Brothers said it made a contri-

bution to a “charity that sup-

ports affordable housing and

universal pre-K” and cooper-

ated with the commission’s re-

view. It agreed to pay a $15,

fine as part of the settlement.

“We take our obligations to

comply with laws and regula-

tions surrounding charitable

contributions seriously,” Kira

Sterling, the chief marketing

officer for Toll Brothers, said.

Executives from Greenpoint

Landing Developers LLC,

which is affiliated with Park

Tower Group, also attended a

meeting with the mayor and

Ross Offinger, the chief fund-

raiser for the nonprofit, the

commission said.

Mr. Offinger said in the

meeting that fundraising was

a priority for the mayor and

later gave details about donat-

ing to the nonprofit, according

to the commission. A Park

Tower executive then contrib-

uted $50,000 to the nonprofit,

according to the report. The

company will pay $20,000 to

settle the investigation, the

commission said. A spokesper-

son for Park Tower didn’t im-

mediately comment. Mr. Offin-

ger declined to comment.

Brookfield Financial Proper-

ties donated $50,000 to the

Campaign for One New York

after either the mayor or a

staffer on behalf of the mayor

recommended it do so in April

2015, according to the com-

mission. The company will pay

a $30,000 settlement, the

commission said. A spokesper-

son for Brookfield didn’t im-

mediately respond to a re-

quest for comment.

The three new settlements

bring the number of penalties

as a result of the investigation

to more than $100,000, ac-

cording to the commission.

Three companies agreed to

pay a total of $65,000 in set-

tlements to New York state’s

ethics commission as part of a

yearslong investigation into a

political nonprofit created by

New York City Mayor Bill de

Blasio, state officials said

Thursday.

The New York State Joint

Commission on Public Ethics

said in a report that Toll

Brothers Inc., Park Tower

Group Ltd. and Brookfield Fi-

nancial Properties LP all do-

nated money to the nonprofit

Campaign for One New York

while simultaneously lobbying

the city for real-estate proj-

ects. State law prohibits lob-

BYKATIEHONAN

Companies Tied to de Blasio Nonprofit Agree to Pay Fines

Badgers and boomslang

snakes would seem to be dan-

gerous animals to the average

New Yorker.

State environmental offi-

cialsnowwanttomakeitan

official designation.

On Thursday, the New York

state Department of Environ-

mental Conservation released

proposed regulations that

would expand the state’s list of

“dangerous animals.” The reg-

ulation would create new li-

censing requirements for zoos,

wildlife parks and exhibitions

that have those animals.

The proposal includes 17

different categories of animals

that could pose a threat to

public safety. The list includes

the usual suspects like wolver-

ines, raccoons and the Eur-

asian lynx, plus the obscure

and less fuzzy: the DeSchauen-

see’s anaconda, and the Nile

monitor, a large lizard with a

nasty demeanor. Elephants are

on the list, too.

The state already consid-

ered some animals dangerous,

including wolves and coyotes,

and by law individuals can’t

keep exotic animals as pets.

Exhibition operators, such as

animal parks or zoos, are al-

ready required to be licensed

by the U.S. Department of Ag-

riculture for the most danger-

ous animals.

However, the state said

that to ensure the safety of

people, fish and wildlife popu-

lations, it needed additional

powers. The public will have

time to comment on the pro-

posed regulation before it

goes into effect.

Jeff Taylor, who owns the

Wild Animal Park in Chit-

tenango, N.Y., said the state’s

move amounted to overregula-

tion for legally licensed opera-

tors. His park has several of

the dangerous animals, includ-

ing bears.

“People already breaking

the law aren’t going to follow

it,” he said. “It’s making it

more of a permit process for

us.”

Conservation officials point

to a growing number of inci-

dents with dangerous animals,

including one in June where

an Orange County man was

bitten by one of the more than

150 venomous snakes he kept

in his basement. In 2011, a

New York woman died after

being bitten by an African

black mamba snake, and in

2006, a New York woman was

attacked by a capuchin mon-

key, the DEC says.

Sue McDonough, president

of the animal-rights advocacy

group New York State Humane

Association, said such designa-

tions were needed to combat

“roadside zoos” that are unli-

censed, and to address people

who keep wild animals as pets.

“You have people getting

wildlife as pets without any

training or background in han-

dling wild animals, and it is a

problem,” she said.

BYMELANIEGRAYCEWEST

State Expands List of ‘Dangerous Animals’

NY